Broccoli Harvesting Experiment

I recently learned something interesting about broccoli harvesting from our friends. And it’s so intriguing that I wanted to share it with you. Keep in mind that it’s still in the experimental stages in my garden, though!

During a recent visit with our friends, Mark and Jane, we had the opportunity to stroll through their wonderful vegetable garden. They are the ones who turned me onto growing ‘Early Dividend’ broccoli last year, which was a great tip.

I noticed that some of their broccoli plants were cut down, practically to the ground. “What’s up with that?,” I asked Mark.

(by the way, if you’re wondering what the netting over my broccoli plants is all about, that is tulle — a.k.a. bridal veil netting — which keeps cabbage butterflies and aphids away from the plants, while providing them with good air circulation.)

Before I give Mark’s answer, let me explain something about broccoli harvesting:

Once a plant has produced a large main head, the traditional way that you harvest it is to cut the head off the plant, right underneath it. Soon, much smaller secondary shoots will develop, which you can harvest later. So far, so good, right?

Well, here’s what I learned from Mark:

In addition to cutting off the main head, Mark has learned that if he cuts the plant’s main stalk down to where the first set of leaves branch out above the base of the plant, a SECOND main head will develop!

Mark says that once he harvests that second head, he cuts back the plant again, and it will provide a THIRD main head! And sometimes, he will even get a FOURTH head from the same plant. I was stunned… and, of course, eager to try this.

I had been keeping an eye on our broccoli bed and noticed it was time to harvest the main heads on most of the plants a few days ago. So I followed Mark’s directions — which was a little scary, to be honest — and am hoping I have the same luck.

So I’m passing this along to you in case you’d like to try it as well. Or you can wait until my next broccoli report to hear what the result of my experiment was. But wouldn’t it be awesome to get a much larger harvest from each plant? You betcha.